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Standing Guard

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PAGE 20: FALL SPORTS 2017
PRESS & DAKOTAN ? PLAIN TALK
Viborg-Hurley interim head coach Galen Schoenefeld, center, watches his team’s warmups prior to the Aug. 18 season opener at Irene-Wakonda. Schoenefeld took over the reins as
head coach for this season with Rob Kessler serving in the South Dakota Air National Guard over in the Middle East.
Standing Guard
Schoenefeld Watches Over Cougar Football As Head Coach Rob Kessler Serves His Country
R
ob Kessler
won’t be
on the sidelines
guiding and
supporting his
football players
this fall.
But he still
plans to follow
their performances.
It’s just that he’ll be doing
so from halfway across the
globe.
You see, Kessler — the
head coach at Viborg-Hurley
— is serving in the South
Dakota Air National Guard
and is currently stationed at
an undisclosed location in
the Middle East.
And although that means
the Cougars will be without
their head coach this season,
Kessler doesn’t plan to be far
from the action.
“That’s the beautiful thing
about technology today,” he
wrote in an email to the Press
& Dakotan.
“It makes it so much
easier for our service members to stay connected back
home.”
Kessler, a Viborg native,
was set to begin his second
year as the Viborg-Hurley
head coach, but when his Air
National Guard duties called
(Sept. 9 will be 18 years for
him), a decision had to be
made.
The result: Long-time assistant Galen Schoenefeld will
serve as interim head coach
this fall.
“Rob really wanted to
see somebody doing it that
had been working with him
and knew how he liked to do
things,” Schoenefeld said.
So it only made sense that
one of his assistants — either
Schoenefeld or Brett Mellem
— would take over this fall.
“Turning over the coaching reins to anyone is killing
me,” Kessler said in his email.
But his “utmost trust” in
Schoenefeld and Mellem is
what has made the transition
easier, he added.
“The three of us have become close friends over the
last two years and essentially
have the same coaching philosophy,” Kessler said.
The Viborg-Hurley program, Kessler wrote, stresses
qualities like accountability,
teamwork, respect, work ethic and trust. Schoenefeld also
runs the school’s Fellowship
Of Christian Athletes (FCA)
for any interested athletes,
Story And Photos By Jeremy Hoeck
2-6.
“We’ve had a good group
of kids in the weight room
over the summer,” Schoenefeld said. “And I know they
would like to see it pay off
for them with some more success.”
Kessler, too, believes his
players’ hard work will result
in more wins.
“We have some good
depth and if some of our
younger kids are able to step
up and fill some roles, I think
we could be very explosive,”
Kessler said.
As though he was speaking to his players in the
locker room before a game,
Kessler included in his email
to the Press & Dakotan a message to his team.
“There are men and
women that put themselves
Viborg-Hurley interim head coach Galen Schoenefeld, center, speaks to the official prior in harm’s way every day to
to the Aug. 18 season opener at Irene-Wakonda. Schoenefeld took over the reins as head provide you the freedom
coach for this season with Rob Kessler serving in the South Dakota Air National Guard to play such a great game,”
Kessler wrote, “and I would
over in the Middle East.
Kessler added.
“For all three of us, our
football program is more
about teaching lessons about
life and building strong men
than it is about winning,” Kessler said.
The idea of caring more
about a player than about the
win-loss record is something
Kessler said he learned from
his mentor Bob Young, the
former football coach at the
University of Sioux Falls. Winning, as the philosophy goes,
will come on its own.
“The three of us all believe
this, so that makes it a lot
easier for me to entrust this
team to team, because I know
they are coaching with the
same philosophy as me,” Kessler said.
Just maybe not as loud,
he joked.
Kessler’s absence was felt
immediately during the preseason practices, according
to Schoenefeld. Not only were
there changes to practices
(as mandated by the South
Dakota High School Activities
Association), but Schoenefeld
— as now the head coach —
had to take a rules test and
was then in charge of dispersing team information to the
various media outlets.
“There was a little bit of
an adjustment with all of
those things,” Schoenefeld
said.
Even during the course
of a game, Schoenefeld said
he doesn’t expect there to
be a massive change without
Kessler there as the leader.
Schoenefeld will continue as
the defensive coordinator
and Mellem will continue
with his offensive play calling
duties.
“It shouldn’t be too much
different,” Schoenefeld said.
“There shouldn’t be too
much extra responsibility
during a game.”
Of course, for Kessler,
he’ll miss being there during
Cougars games.
Specifically, he said the
“hardest part” about not beaing able to coach this season
is that his oldest son, Tate,
will be in his first year of
high school football — which
meant father could have
coached son.
But again, technology
allows Kessler to keep in
contact.
As an example of how
connected Kessler can stay
with his football team, he
said he watched game film
of a preseason scrimmage
nearly a half-dozen times.
And Schoenefeld said Kessler
will be able to watch footage
from each game through the
website Viborg-Hurley uses.
So it’s not as though the
head coach is completely out
of the loop.
“That’s a big plus,”
Schoenefeld said. “I wasn’t
sure at the beginning how
much we’d be able to converse.”
Last year, Kessler’s first
as head coach, saw the
coaches put in charge of a
“good group,” according to
Schoenefeld. Even though, as
he added, the wins didn’t pile
up — Viborg-Hurley finished
ask them that they put the
same commitment towards
the schooling and their team,
and that they leave nothing
on the field.
“And that they do me
proud, as I know they will!”
Since he returned to
teaching two years ago after
a 13-year hiatus, Kessler said
the communities of Viborg
and Hurley have supported
him and his family. And it’s
been the same now that he’s
overseas and his family is
back home.
Kessler said he wanted to
share one final message.
“I’d like to give a shout
out to my wife Laura, you
are amazing,” he wrote. “My
kids, who make what I’m
doing worth it. And to all my
friends and family that are
giving both myself and my
family so much support.
“I love you all!”
Follow @jhoeck on Twitter
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